Becoming Human by Design [Hardcover]

The last in Tony Fry's celebrated trilogy of books continues his radical rethinking of design.Becoming Human by Design's provocative argument presents a revised reading of human 'evolution' centred on ontological design.

Examining the relation of design to the nature of the human species - where the species came from, how it was created, what it became and its likely future - Fry asserts that current biological and social models of evolution are an insufficient explanation of how 'we humans' became what we are.

Making a case for ontological design as an evolutionary agency, the book posits the relation between the formation of the world of human fabrication and the making of mankind itself as indivisible. It also functions as a provocation to rethink the fate of Homo sapiens, recognising that all species are finite and that the fate of humankind turns on a fundamental Darwinian principle - adapt or die. Fry considers the nature of adaptation, arguing that it will depend on an ability to think and design in new ways.

The last in Tony Fry's trilogy of books published by Berg continues his radical rethinking of design.Becoming Human by Designpresents a provocative reading of human 'evolution' centred on ontological design, where the relation between the formation of the world of human fabrication and the making of mankind is seen as indivisible.Tony Fryis Director of the sustainment consultancy Team D/E/S and Professor of Design, Griffith University, Queensland College of Art. He is also author ofDesign Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice(Berg, 2008) andDesign as Politics(Berg, 2010).

Preface

Introduction

Part One: First Pass
End of the Story
Start of a Story
Proximity: A Question of Distances

Part Two: Emergence Over Origin - A Relational Account
Coming into Being via Natural Selection
Coming into Being via Un-natural Selection
Coming into lÓ6